“Well. That I most definitely agree with. Did we break the curse?” she asked.
“I believe that we did.”
“Magic,” she whispered.
“Or just love.”
EPILOGUE
“PRINCESS VIOLET,” came a rich, deep voice from behind her. “I believe I have a debt to collect.”
A smile touched her lips, and she looked down into the crib at her sleeping baby, a girl they had named Jacinta, then back at her husband, who was prowling toward her, a wicked smile on his face. Man and beast become one.
That was how he loved her. And it was how she liked it.
Fierce and tender. Dangerous but utterly trustworthy.
“Do you?” she asked. “Because last I checked I was still the richest woman in the world, and a princess on top of it. I doubt I owe anyone a debt.” She had continued to run her company successfully from Monte Blanco, and with the country having become the most photographed tourist destination in the world, a phenomenon and a craze in the last five years, her brand—now primarily manufactured there—had only become more in demand.
“This is not a debt that can be paid with money. Only with your body.” A shiver ran down her spine. “And with your heart.”
Javier was the best husband. The best father. He loved her even more now that they’d been married half a decade than he had in the beginning, and she never doubted it.
“I wanted a kiss earlier,” he said, gruffly, nuzzling her ear. “You were too busy with Jacinta and Carlos.”
“Carlos was eating paper,” she said, in a voice of mock despair over their three-year-old son’s taste.
“And I find I am still in need of my kiss.”
So she kissed him.
“I find that is not enough,” he said, and from behind his back he produced the jeweled cuffs. Anticipation fired in her blood.
“This is one debt I’m eager to pay,” she said.
When she had paid—enthusiastically, and repeatedly—she lay sated against his body.
“You are right,” he said finally. “You are magic. You have transformed me multiple times, you know.”
“Have I?”
“Yes. From beast to man. Heartless to a man with more love than he can contain. You made me a husband. You made me a father. You made me love. You made me whole.”
“Oh, Javier,” she breathed. “This is the very best magic.”
“Yes, My Princess,” he agreed. “It is.”
* * *